Economy top issue for most Colorado voters

DENVER – An early look at voters' views of Tuesday's elections, according to preliminary exit poll data conducted in Colorado for The Associated Press:

COLORADO STATE OF MIND: More than half of Colorado voters say the economy is the most important issue facing the nation, more than the federal budget deficit, health care or foreign policy – and about three-fourths think it's not in good shape.

About 4 in 10 think the U.S. economy is getting better. About half say George W. Bush is more to blame than President Barack Obama for current economic problems, while about 4 in 10 say Obama is more to blame.

GUN LAWS: Just months after the mass shooting at a movie theater in a Denver suburb, 6 in 10 voters say they see the state's gun control laws as about right. Roughly one-quarter call them too weak.

IMMIGRATION: Two-thirds of voters think illegal immigrants working in the U.S. should be offered a chance to apply for legal status, while a quarter think they should be deported.

OBAMACARE: More than half of voters think at least part of the nation's 2010 federal health care law should be repealed, while 4 in 10 think it should stay the same or be expanded.

The survey of Colorado voters was conducted for AP and the television networks by Edison Research. A total of 1,029 voters who voted early or absentee were interviewed by landline or cellular telephone from Oct. 29 through Nov. 4. Results for the full sample were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points; it is higher for subgroups.